Lost in the fray

[Blake]

yeah and then you posted and the lyrics transformed into "how to lose a wife".

I laughed. 9/10

[dgspursforlife]

To all those guys bashing LAs D.
I believe he is as ctually a pretty decent defender when healthy and checked in. And he did play with a torn ligament last season so he was probably not as aggressive as well

[FromWayDowntown]

They'll address depth and I don't see continuity as a problem -- they'll return somewhere between 8 and 10 players and other than Kyle Anderson, those guys have all been here through at least the 2012, 2013, and 2014 runs (in fact, the last guys to arrive before KA were Patty and Boris, who arrived on March 23 and 27, 2012; by the time the playoffs roll around again, that core group of 8 or 9 will have been together intact for 4 years and through 65 playoff games).

[ribcage6foot6]

Time travel to 2009, bring back Hedo Turkoglu to play point forward and hit threes. But more realistically, they should look at Alexey Shved, who could absorb some minutes at the 3 being another ball-handler/play-maker/capable shooter. He plays a style that would give him a shot at filling Manu's shoes assuming he doesn't flame out or go back to Europe. Probably money motivated at this point in his career but might be willing to take the minimum to escape New York's Bermuda Triangle and have a chance to contribute to a winning team for once and have a wink-wink agreement to get paid next summer if he proves he can fill the void post-Manu.

[Uriel]

I keep laughing at the "defense won't be as good" take when Sassy couldn't move without his calves exploding. Defense was great last season because of MF Anchor Tim Duncan, DPOY Kawhi Leonard and Block Machine Danny Green.

Tiago is a better defender than Aldridge. That's just a fact. He had a higher defensive real plus-minus and a higher defensive rating last season, even with "his calves exploding." If Aldridge takes Splitter's minutes, the defense will decline.

However, as I said, Aldridge has the same defensive versatility as Splitter. He's not as good a defender, but he isn't much worse either. So while our defense will suffer, it'll still be among the league's best. And given how much better Aldridge is offensively than Splitter, the net gain from switching the two should more than offset the defensive cost.

[TheDoctor]

[QUOTE=Uriel;8104388]Tiago is a better defender than Aldridge. That's just a fact. He had a higher defensive real plus-minus and a higher defensive rating last season...QUOTE]

Those individual stats say only a part of the complete scheme as NBA basketball isn't a "one on one" game. Tiago's rating is derived, affected by San Antonio's system (players). They go hand to hand and the Spurs were only notch better defensively than Portland thanks mostly to TD, KL and DG. I'm pretty sure Aldridge's defensive ratings will improve this season. Tiago's defense will be felt in PnRolls, as he's an elite PnRoll defender. But like you said, our D will still be among the league's best and I suspect will be better than last year's.